Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-08-06
Is it a Piece Of a Comet ?

recently come into my possession We
ninth iron meteorite whose fall to the
earth has been observed. 1t is, more
over, the first meteorite which seems
to evidence a direct connection with
a star-shower. The mass acquires
still further interest from the fact that
it is presumably a fragment of the
famous comet of Biela.
A brief account of this celestial
wanderer will doubtless be of interest
to the readers of The Century, in
which magazine the essays of the as
tronomer Langley have recently APP
peared.
Astronomers have waited patiently
for the fall to the earth's surface, at
the time of the periodical star-show-
ers, Of something tangible, but until
now they have waited in vain.
in looking over a considerable
amount of astronomical literature,
only n record can be found of the
falling of a body to the earth at such
a time; this was neal Paris, on the
10th of April, 1904, when "many
shooting-stars were seen, and a very
large one was said to have been found
on the ground as a glowing sub
stance"
From the 24th to the Doth of No
vember, 1885, the earth was passing
through Il train of meteors that pro-
ceeded from the constellation andre
media, and once formed a part of Bic
las comet. These meteors are now
known to astronomers as andre
medes or Bielids. The maximum of
this shower occurred on the 9th,
while it was yet broad daylight over
America, and at an hour correspond
ing to II a. m. at Mazapil, Mexico.
Thus, at the time of the fall of this
meteorite, ten hours after the maxi
mum number of meteors was Observ-
ed, the earth was meeting with only
the stragglers of the train. 1t cannot
be doubted that the cosmical dust
proceeding from the disintegration of
Biela's Comet wholly enveloped the
earth and was seen as meteors from
every part oft. Such was the mag
~nificence of the celestial phenomenon
that in some parts of the Eastern
Continent uneducated people believed
there would be no stars left in the
sky.
OF the countless host of meteors
which crossed the earth's path on
this 9th Of November, only one is as
yet knownto have reached the earth's
surface, and this fell neal the village
of Mazapil, in the state of Zacatecas
Mexico, at about 8 o'clock in thu
evening. 1t is of the rare iron-nickeI
variety, and weighs ten and aquartel
pounds troy.
This meteOrite vas presented to nj
by Sr. Jose A. y Bonilla, Director
Professor of the Zacatecas Observa
tory, who received it, five days afte
its fall, from the ranchman who saw
it descend from the heavens. Thi
ranchman related the strange occur
renee rs follows translated from tn
Spanish):
"It was at about 8 o'clock on tn
night of November 9th, when l wen
out to thecorral to feed certain horses
suddenly, Iheard aloud Sizing noise
exactly as though something red-hC
was being plunged into cold water
and almost instantly there followed
a somewhat loud thud. At once tn
corral was covered with a phosphol
escent light, while. suspended in tn
air were small luminous sparks {
though from a rocket. / had not r.
covered from my surprise before
saw this luminous air disappear, an
there remained on the ground onl
such a light as is made when a mate
is rubbed. A number ofpeople can
running toward me from the neigl
boring houses, and they assisted n
in quoting the horses, which had b
come very much excited. We a
asked each other what could be Il
matter, and we were afraid to wal
in the corral for fear of being burne
When, in a few moments, we had r
covered from u fright, we saw Il
light disappear, and bringing la,
terms to look for the cause, we four
a hole in the ground and in it a ba
of light. We retired to a distanc
fearing it would explode and har
u.s.. Looking up to the sky, we sa
from time to time eXhalations
stars, which soon went out witho
noise. We returned after a little, al
found in the hole a hot stone WhiC